Mystery after body found in United Airlines plane wheel well after 4,000 mile journey

Police are investigating after a body was found in the wheel well of a United Airlines plane after it landed in Hawaii.

The body was found in the wheel well of one of the main landing gears on United Flight 202, which arrived at Maui’s Kahului Airport from Chicago on Christmas Eve.

It’s still unknown how the person got inside, as the wheel well of the Boeing 787-10 was only accessible from outside the aircraft.

The Maui Police Department said it was ‘actively investigating’ the discovery of the dead body.

A spokesperson for the Hawaii Department of Transportation said in an email that it had no additional details beyond what United had confirmed.

Sources told Hawaii News Now that the deceased person was a man. State officials said that operations at Kahului Airport were not impacted by the incident.

Flight 202 departed Chicago O’Hare International Airport at 9.31am and arrived in Maui at 2.12pm, according to FlightAware.

Stowaways’ most used method is to hide in wheel wells and more than 77% of individuals who have tried to catch an illegal ride have died, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

They can get crushed by landing gear when it retracts and they can get frostbite, hypothermia and experience low oxygen levels as planes climb to high altitudes.

In December 2022, a man was found dead in the right hand wheel of a plane that flew from Banjul in The Gambia to London Gatwick Airport. His remains were frozen and he died of hypothermia.

And in January 2016, a man’s body was discovered in the landing gear of a Boeing 777 that flew from Sao Paolo to Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport and then relocated to the smaller Orly Airport nearby. The stowaway was found clinging on to the gear.

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